Women Entrepreneurs

 Women Entrepreneurs- Definition

 Profile of a typical women entrepreneur
 Personality differences between Men & Women
 Male vs. Female Entrepreneurs – A Comparison
 Professional Women: Problems & Perceptions
 Barriers to Women Entrepreneurs
 How can the problem be overcome?
 Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs
 Women Entrepreneurs- Definition

An enterprise owned and controlled by one or more women having

a minimum financial holding of 51% or more, giving 51% or more
employment to women

Some Facts:

 Women Constitute not only half of the World’s population but also
sway the growth of the remaining half

 They produce half of the world’s food supply

 They account for 60% of the work force

 Own less than 1% of the real estate

Profile of a typical women entrepreneur

 First born child of middle class parents

 Atleast one of the parents are self employed
 College educated
 Married
 First significant venture in early 30s
 Previous experience in a new venture
 Desire for independence and job satisfaction
 Self confident and moderate risk taker
 High tolerance for ambiguity
 High energy levels
 Start up problems: Obtaining credit, access to information,
marketing, lack of experience in financial planning, taxation, cash
flow management, personnel management
We need to understand…

• Whether women can contribute significantly towards the

national economy

• Do they have equal potential?

• If so, why are there fewer women entrepreneurs today?

• What are their difficulties?

• How can we address them?

Personality differences between Men & Women

 In a patriarchal society like that of India, the exploitation and

subjugation of women is commonplace

 Women are equally achievement oriented, aggressive,

independent, risk takers, self confident, hard working etc as their
male counterparts
Male vs. Female Entrepreneurs – A Comparison

 Women Entrepreneurs do things differently, as compared to

male entrepreneurs

 Women tend to work more in teams

 Are less self-centered

 Personal ego to them is less important for them than success

of the organization or business idea they are pursuing

 It is a known fact that personal characteristics as well as

social aspects clearly play some role in developing
entrepreneurship but entrepreneurs can also be developed
through conscious action
Professional Women:
Problems & Perceptions

When one tries to explore the root cause of the underachievement

of women as professionals, one finds that reasons are actually
different from the commonly attributed “lack of commitment and
competence” on part of women professionals

The underlying reasons are more related to the social reality of

Indian women which imposes certain socio-cultural role-models &
stereotypes leading to a conditioning of people’s psyche
 Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship
Level Individual Household Business Community/
Barriers /Family Government
Financial Women look Men decide Less income= In some
for security about less property= countries,
expenses no security= signature of
no loan husband
required for loan

Economical Women get Women lack Lack of Women

less support for management discriminated in
education household know-how terms of access
work to economic
resources
Socio- Independent Violence Limited In male
thinking is against mobility – dominated
Cultural
not allowed women by problems with industries,
to women husband the marketing, women
transportation entrepreneurs
& selling of are not accepted
goods
 Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship
Level Individual Household/ Business Community/
Family Government
Barriers
Political-Legal Women act Women have Less means Lack of
privately, got less to exert knowledge
not influence and power/less about women
politically negotiation protection Entrepreneurs
power in the by the state to be able to
family for women develop
entrepreneu appropriate
rs policies

Psychological Low self- Women are Women are State views

esteem, do divided afraid to be men as the
-
not dare to more ones who
Philosophical demand successful publicly
rights than represent the
men/husba family
nds
How can the problem be overcome?

 Women have to go through the same stages of setting up an

enterprise as do men

 They face similar challenges, irrespective of gender based social

impediments like social stigma, unfavorable infrastructure,
support systems, etc. which block their entry and reduce their
pace of growth

 The need today is to help women overcome these blocks and draw
maximum participation from them to set up enterprises, which will
help them
How can the problem be overcome?
 Educate/train the women entrepreneurs

 Help then in setting up of home based businesses

 Make easy finance available

 Develop special schemes for women entrepreneurs

 Achieve self reliance and place women entrepreneurs at par

with their male counterparts

 Develop gender sensitivity

 Examine the processes of gender inequality

 Acquire skills of identification of potential women

entrepreneurs
 Empowerment is not only an external process, but a process
that has to bring about intrinsic changes in women as well as
in men

 When women get organized and raise their consciousness

about their disempowerment and use their critical
understanding to organize themselves and struggle for
greater access to resources, there are very few problems
they could face
Schemes for women entrepreneurs

 Seed capital scheme

 National equity fund
 Prime minister’s employment guarantee scheme
 Single window scheme
 DIC scheme
 KVIC scheme
 Bank schemes for women entrepreneurs
 Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM)
 Mahila Udyog Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi
 Priyadarshan Yojana
Seed Money Assistance

 Funds for unemployed youth and women aged 18 to 35 years,

with minimum qualification- Std. VII th pass @ 10%

 Maximum seed capital available Rs.5 Lakh

 Assistance percent is 10% to 15% of total fixed capital, 22.5%

for backward classes

 Repayment period- 7 years

Prime Minister’s Employment
Guarantee Scheme
 Maximum age of 35 years, with qualification- X th pass

 Assistance by way of loans up to 95% of project cost

 15% subsidy is made available

 Subsidy of up to 15% or Rs.7,500, whichever lesser provided

by government of India

 Parents of the candidates cannot have annual income

exceeding Rs.24,000
DIC scheme

 Encouragement to start women entrepreneurship in areas with

population of less than Rs. 1 Lakh

 Investment in machinery up to Rs.2 Lakh is allowed

 20% of this investment is granted as seed capital

 For backward classes, the seed capital is up to 30%

 The interest rate is 4%

 Remaining capital needs to be financed by banks/financial

institutions
Single Window Scheme

 Scheme by SIDBI to provide fixed and working capital from a

single source

 Project cost excluding working capital and margin money, can go

up to Rs. 20 Lakh

 Repayment period-10 years

 Founder’s capital- Minimum 25%

Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM)

 Established on the 24th February,1975

 Schemes: Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme (MRCP), Swarna

Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Swayamsiddha
Programme (IWEP), Mahila Swavalamban Nidhi (MSN), Ramai
Mahila Shakshamikaran (SCP), NABARD Add-On Project, Rashtriya
Samvikas Yojana (RSY), Krushi Saptak Yojana and Tribal
Development Project (TSP)

 Activities/objective: Self employment of women, training them in

various product and service industries, assisting them to start
business and manage it
Mahila Udyog Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi

 Started by SIDBI in 1990

 Provides finance up to Rs.10 Lakh through state financing

corporation and SIDC

 Financial assistance provided as concessional rate

 Mahila Vikas Nidhi also provides assistance in training women

entrepreneurs